Robie Street Widening

[Keith P.]

The dynamic duo of Peggy Cameron and Howard Epstein are tag-teaming in order to pin this proposal down for a 3-count. This should be some prime-time entertainment.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9346278/r...-transit-plan/

[Summerville]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The dynamic duo of Peggy Cameron and Howard Epstein are tag-teaming in order pin this proposal down for a 3-count. This should be some prime-time entertainment.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9346278/r...-transit-plan/

I can see the name of their group,…”the Friends of Peggy’s Front Yard”

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by Summerville

I can see the name of their group,…”the Friends of Peggy’s Front Yard”

One of the best posts I've seen here in a while. Nothing but net!

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by Summerville

I can see the name of their group,…”the Friends of Peggy’s Front Yard”

[Dmajackson]

I noticed 2550 Robie Street is being demolished. This is the southwest corner of Willow Street. I don't know what the redevelopment plans are for this site.

Centre Plan - Robie Street Transportation Reserve Map shows this as being one of the affected lots.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

I noticed 2550 Robie Street is being demolished. This is the southwest corner of Willow Street. I don't know what the redevelopment plans are for this site.

Centre Plan - Robie Street Transportation Reserve Map shows this as being one of the affected lots.

That map also shows a bunch of properties on the west side of Robie affected below Charles. I definitely hope the plan here isn't to rip down a bunch of buildings on that side for the sake of gaining a metre or two of street width, especially given that there's a huge Irving station on the other side of the street that could be encroached on instead.

Also interesting that it shows the house on the southeast corner of Robie and North consumed/eliminated. The house immediately next to that (not affected by this, but just at the edge) is under consideration for heritage status.

[Empire]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

I noticed 2550 Robie Street is being demolished. This is the southwest corner of Willow Street. I don't know what the redevelopment plans are for this site.

Centre Plan - Robie Street Transportation Reserve Map shows this as being one of the affected lots.

Exactly the type of building we should be preserving!

2550 Robie St. Source: Google Maps
https://www.google.com/maps/place/25...!4d-63.5942994

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

I noticed 2550 Robie Street is being demolished. This is the southwest corner of Willow Street. I don't know what the redevelopment plans are for this site.

Centre Plan - Robie Street Transportation Reserve Map shows this as being one of the affected lots.

The white building on the northwest corner across the street has always been a traffic hazard as it blocks visibility for the large number of vehicles trying to make a right onto Robie from Willow. The reason there are so many vehicles wanting to make that turn is because there is no left turn from westbound North St for Macdonald bridge traffic needing to go south, so they turn left at Clifton, the first cross-street beyond Robie, and circle back. If the Robie/North intersection was fixed to allow left turns this issue would disappear. But the white house is right up to the Robie St sidewalk so it will always be a bottleneck.

[Dmajackson]

Coastal Cafe (civic 2731) has announced they are closing this month. The municipality has purchased the lot allow for demolition.

[Jor D]

im all for robie street demos as well as quinpool and gottingen.

[Jor D]

the big picture people !!
atlantic canada needs a metropolis so that we have an economic critical mass. Halifax is the best place for that center of gravity. one major big city in atlantic canada will be the difference maker for all the atlantics. that being said, the big picture for halifax right now is sustainable population increase which involves density and infrastructure. the peninsula is the best place for density increase however we need to acknowledge low res. in the west end and south end areas which means a sprinkling of supertalls in south and west and cluster density in the north to downtown. three streets that must grow thick and tall include robie, gottingen and quinpool. this is for the betterment of all atlantic canadians

[fatscat]

I'm all for better public transit and demos but the the city desperately needs funding or a reconfiguration to make the system more usable. I imagine a lot of this is connecting the network.

For example, we have many routes going through Kempt Rd and the mess that is the Windsor Street Exchange. These buses are trapped in that congestion there, meanwhile, the Bayers BRT lanes are ... pretty empty? The bus route map displays this nicely



Similarly, Gottingen St has bus lanes but in the morning, they are riddled with parked cars, forcing buses to merge back into the traffic lanes. What's the point of this infrastructure if there are exceptions which just put us back to the norm?

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

I'm happy to be able to report that I have witnessed cars being towed out of the bus lane on Gottingen Street at just after 4pm.

[Keith P.]

If HRM is serious about having dedicated bus lanes on Gottingen then surely expropriation will be needed in the future to provide adequate capacity just as they are finally doing (apparently) on Robie.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Jor D

the big picture people !!
atlantic canada needs a metropolis so that we have an economic critical mass. Halifax is the best place for that center of gravity. one major big city in atlantic canada will be the difference maker for all the atlantics. that being said, the big picture for halifax right now is sustainable population increase which involves density and infrastructure. the peninsula is the best place for density increase however we need to acknowledge low res. in the west end and south end areas which means a sprinkling of supertalls in south and west and cluster density in the north to downtown. three streets that must grow thick and tall include robie, gottingen and quinpool. this is for the betterment of all atlantic canadians

Typical Halifax hubris???

I appreciate your concern for "all Atlantic Canadians", but building up Gottingen means little to a fisherman on Brier Island or a railway worker in Campbellton NB.

Halifax means less to most Maritimers outside of central NS than you seem to think.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

If HRM is serious about having dedicated bus lanes on Gottingen then surely expropriation will be needed in the future to provide adequate capacity just as they are finally doing (apparently) on Robie.

That will never happen. The expropriation on Robie is because A: there's a brief bottleneck impeding rapid-transit lanes, and B: relatively buildings are affected; most of it is parking frontages and the like.

Gottingen Street is obviously a wholly different situation. It's not a rapid-transit corridor, and it's almost entirely built right to the sidewalk. The city is definitely not going to expropriate and demolish dozens of buildings, comprising one of the city's primary commercial thoroughfares, to add a bus lane.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Gottingen Street is obviously a wholly different situation. It's not a rapid-transit corridor, and it's almost entirely built right to the sidewalk. The city is definitely not going to expropriate and demolish dozens of buildings, comprising one of the city's primary commercial thoroughfares, to add a bus lane.

In the long run Gottingen is probably going to have the kind of density that would support some kind of transit tunnel.

In Spain they build underground transit tunnels for $80M or so per km. 1 km takes you from City Hall to just past Cunard Street.

[Nouvellecosse]

If the city is determined not to build anything underground, a lot can still be done by dedicating surface space. A corridor like Gottingen could be given the King St. treatment where no left turns are allowed and regular road traffic can only travel on the street for a short distance to access homes and businesses. But all automobiles must turn right on the next block rather than adding to queues at intersections. Apparently that significantly reduced travel times and increased reliability on the 504 King streetcar. Combine that with full signal priority and you've got something much better than the current service. There's also the option of using Agricola and Cogswell since Agricola is a little wider. With a narrow LRV, you might have (barely) enough room for dedicated lrt lanes if you eliminate street parking.

Neither option is as fast as a tunnel, but both so many tens of millions cheaper. Although it might be a big challenge politically since anything that affects the movement of private automobiles is controversial to some.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Typical Halifax hubris???

I appreciate your concern for "all Atlantic Canadians", but building up Gottingen means little to a fisherman on Brier Island or a railway worker in Campbellton NB.

Halifax means less to most Maritimers outside of central NS than you seem to think.

You do understand the context you're referring to. Airport, PSA container port, etc.

Population base. Location.

Get real... Halifax is not only the most important centre in the Atlantic provinces, it will some day structurally be way more important than most places in Quebec and Ontario.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Halifax means less to most Maritimers outside of central NS than you seem to think.

Maybe but it's true that there's some stuff Atlantic Canada doesn't have at all because it has no major metropolitan area and Halifax is really the only place on its way to that kind of scale, plus it already offers a bunch of unique amenities to the region.

I don't think the Brier Island fisherman example is a good one. Rural NS is pretty heavily subsidized and the more Halifax grows the less of a burden that becomes. It is true that provincial revenues don't benefit people in NB or PEI.